PULSE Survey Finds Small-Asset Issuers Taking Losses From Durbin

A survey that covers almost half of U.S. debit traffic shows that small-asset debit card issuers are taking losses stemming from regulations implementing the Durbin Amendment.

The 2013 Debit Issuer Study is the eighth one the debit/ATM network has sponsored and was conducted in partnership with financial consultancy Oliver Wyman.

The amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act capped debit interchange for issuers with over $10 billion in assets but was supposed to not affect the debit interchange income of smaller asset issuers.

But the survey found that so-called exempt issuers saw a decrease of $0.02 in their interchange rates from both types of debit transactions in 2012: those that are validated by cardholder signature and those validated by PINs.